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Last year, the book value of Berkshire Hathaway dropped 9.6%, its worst showing ever, and only the second decline in its history. The company also lost its AAA rating. As a consequence, the board of directors made Warren Buffett do some time as a salesman at Nebraska Furniture Mart (a Berkshire subsidiary). He actually spent part of the time napping, but did sell at least one mattress. A new kind of mattress. The Nervous Nellie mattress. [more]

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One of the phrases that has entered the investing lexicon over the past few years -- joining the likes of "zombie banks," "credit default swaps," "shadow banking system," and "where's my f&*%ing bailout money?" -- is "buy and hope." It's a derisive term, suggesting that there's little rational basis for buy-and-hold investing. It was even the first comment in my post yesterday about GM. It's understandable, given that the S&P 500 is lower today than it was 10 years ago. [more]